A paradise for backpackers up for grabs in Byron Bay
By Graham Simmons
Surfie girls, in blonde-bronzed splendor. Ferals Ex-hippies on the way to nouveau respectability. Backpackers of a dozen different nationalities. Senior citizens, down from the Gold Coast for an outing. Locals, in their hordes.
BYRON BAY, Australia (JP): Out at sea, windsurfers ride their craft. The whole bay and sea sparkles as if a billion tiny mirrors have been cast upon the oceans's surface.
On the lawns outside the Byron Pub, on the north coast of New South Wales, the whole world has come to soak up the winter sun. The day is so brilliant, you suspect your whole life has been in suspension until this very moment, waiting for you to savor it to the full.
Winter rolls into spring, the ocean warms, and the hordes escalate. The summer brings rain, even more crowds and festivals. Then the long, slow drift into fall, when the balmy nights seem to say summer will never end.
And so, the whole cycle starts over again.
The Cape Byron Holiday Guide is not so much a tourist brochure, as a series of essays on what makes Byron Bay so special. The whole region throbs with an energy that is world renowned. Artists, writers, musicians and creative beings of all descriptions thrive here, and others come to gawk, or envy.
Walk down Byron's streets, and it's as if you're teleported to a fantasy world of make-believe. This is where creativity comes to strut its stuff. And side-by-side with this parade is the beginnings of a sophisticated cafe culture, in the vein of that other former Australian hippy paradise, the Queensland town of Noosa.
But the locals don't want another Gold Coast. Except for a few starry-eyed developers, whose goals have been pitched high by modest successes in the field, Byronians want to avoid the pitfalls of development at all costs. The emphasis is -- keep it clean, keep it green.
Visitors to Byron hang out at Caddies Cafe, while the locals tend to congregate at the Byronian. Here's where many deals are done, all in an atmosphere of effortless action, over coffee and talk and the ever-present people-watching, (so much so you sometimes forget you're a person too).
The "ferals" in town are mostly young settlers from the hills. Their carefully chosen rags, uniform if you like, are designed to stand out, to set them apart. Their distinguishing characteristics are a highly polished superiority complex, and conviction that by adopting a new persona, they might somehow run away from themselves.
Meantime, down the road in Ballina Shire, a local tourism forum is told visitors to the region want to learn from these feral hill tribes. Learn their knowledge and understanding of cost-efficient technologies and sustainable land-use.
Backpackers are another breed. You can tell at a glance that here is a future stockbroker, or a member of the European Parliament, or a mother of 10 future backpackers. These people have an openness and attentiveness to what's happening around them that belies their youth. Here is living proof that travel broadens the mind, if not the waistline.
"New agers" are another species again. Somehow, their former gurus have left them to rot on a plateau of partial knowledge. So, in an attempt to find what's missing, they come to Byron Bay, to dine on the crumbs that have fallen off the table of real knowledge.
Some of these people are genuinely in search of themselves, while others seem to have found themselves and are trying to figure out what to do next. The vast majority are still at the lost property office.
Somehow, through all this "feral fog" and "new-age nebula" the light of pure consciousness can still shine, and day by day you discover more and more about yourself. Byron Bay is an energy charged place, you feel that the very lie of the land is funneling a "life force" down from the hills to the sea. Here, this force meets with the rays of the rising sun, all coming together at the most easterly point in Australia.
This is why Byron Bay is also an early place. Early in the morning is the best time to be up and about, walking or swimming or jogging along the beach. Crowd-thronged streets fill out the day, while most evenings are quiet and subdued. By 10 p.m. the town is quiet, except for a few out-of-body ragers at the Beach Hotel.
In the hinterland, Mullumbimby perches at the foot of Mount Chincogan, like a subtropical Welsh village. As if in a dream, it seems to rise straight out of the landscape and then abruptly blends back in again.
Some people say Mullumbimby is the real center of Byron Shire. Here, ferals and townspeople seem to blend harmoniously, sometimes to the extent you can't tell who is which. Evidently, the Byron Shire councilors agree with this perception, Mullum as it is colloquially known has been chosen as the site for the new council chambers, instead of the more "vacationist" Byron Bay.
Back in the Bay, Craig and Janet are managers of the Belongil Beach-House, just a short distance out of town. Here they host and revel in the company of the visitors from all around the globe who feel the lure of Byron.
Just down the road is a unique Byron institution, The Epicenter. A thriving and dynamic art colony spins the creative force of Byron Bay into a tangible web. Art shows, an excellent cafe, a yoga center and offices make The Epicenter a "must-visit" place for many.
Visiting The Epicenter today, you would scarcely suspect that the venue was once a slaughterhouse. Campbell MacKellar, a gifted entrepreneur who set up shop here, says he had to burn many bundles of incense attempting to diffuse the negative vibrations of the former slaughterhouse. But it seems his efforts succeeded, and The Epicenter today is a haven of peacefulness and creativity.
New Year is the prize jewel in the crown of Byron Bay. The action starts a couple of days beforehand, with a rustic craft market snaking through the ti trees, and the annual Rathayatra Festival sponsored by Hare Krishna devotees.
New Year's Eve is a big, colorful event, with lantern processions through the streets, culminating in a beachfront ceremony and fireworks display at midnight. Once disrupted by grog-crazed buffoons, the event is now a family treat, something of which Byron can be justly proud.
The week following New Year's, the annual Byron Bay Arts and Music Festival shatters the ether. For three days and nights, top rhythms can be experienced at Belongil Fields. As well as rhythm, there's a little melody and harmony too, particularly among the folk attending.
If you're coming to Byron Bay, first define your parameters. Are you staying for a week, or for life? Coming by trail, car, coach or camel? Budgeting on $10 or $200 a day ? After you've determined your constraints, take a look at the Fact File at the end of this article.
When you've determined your budget and decided on your options, just go, and enjoy. Who knows, you may well find yourself extending your stay by a lifetime or two.